Old Mercedes

In 1954 New York Auto Show Mercedes-Benz presented a prototype of their new innovative product; the 190SL with its removable hardtop. The production of this elegant car can be traced back between early May 1955 and February of 1963. This two-door convertible made its way through popularity and captured the hearts of car-lovers.

Together with Mercedes-Benz 300SL which is more expensive, 190SL harvested a lot of customers with its 1.9L SOHC engine; a lot of people prefer to purchase such model knowing that it has almost the same engine as with 300SL. 190SL’s four cylinder block was based on that of 300SL’s. Although, it has complexity of running smoothly, it is because of the difficulty of the twin-choke, dual carburetors which cannot properly be synchronized. This somehow cannot be noticed with non-technical drivers and owners. The stroke of 190SL was 88.0 mm but then reduced to 83.5 mm to be a little gas-economical which is why people’s preferences were with 190SL rather than 300SL.

When it comes to being convertible, people had two choices to choose from, whether from a soft-top or a hardtop convertible. Significantly, the rear window of the hardtop was enlarged. People would like to see 190SL in racing. Therefore, the manufacturer had to meet the demand of the

public; therefore, building a racing 190SL model with its Perspex windscreen and the weight was reduced by using aluminum as its doors. The soft-top convertibles of 190SL can sell very well with the price of 3,998 US dollars and 4,295 for the hardtops.

190SL has a fully synchronized, 4-speed manual transmission which was the usual type of transmission by then making it more preferred by the public over other complexities of another models. It has built its reputation really well and was still rising. And associated by the name that people mostly like, there were 25,881 units built to have been distributed over all the countries. In fact, it has become the most popular model during its era.

However, its fame was ended when Rosemarie Nitribitt, a call girl, was killed which caused a really big scandal in the community. It so happened that the girl had 190SL. Therefore, 190SL was given a nickname not so pleasant: Nitribitt-Mercedes. The name had also spread all throughout the world destroying the reputation of 190SL leaving the manufacturer no choice but to replace it with Mecedes-Benz 230SL by the end of 1963.

Although, today such car is still in its beauty and there are still those who love driving it. It is evident that it was built with high quality because there were so few complaints about the performance of Mercedes-Benz 190SL and people who was able to own one during its era are still driving with ease with their 190SL.